Earlier this year, 187 Israeli professors
signed an "Urgent Warning" letter titled
"The Israeli government may be contemplating crimes against
humanity." As of today, 800 American professors have signed a
similar document, warning of coming Israeli ethnic cleansing.
Released on 29 September 2002, the original Israeli letter began
by stating, "We, members and friends of Israeli academe, are
horrified by US buildup of aggression towards Iraq and by the
Israeli political leadership's enthusiastic support for it. We are
deeply worried by indications that the 'fog of war' could be
exploited by the Israeli government to commit further crimes
against the Palestinian people, up to full-fledged ethnic
cleansing."
The letter continued on to note that the coalition ruling Israel
included parties that promote ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian
population as a "solution" to the conflict, the letter cited
several examples of senior Israeli government and military
officials using the language of ethnic cleansing, and called on
the international community to "pay close attention to events that
unfold within Israel and in the Occupied Territories."
The
American letter, released on 18 December 2002, opens with
expressions of full support for the Israeli letter. Signed by 800
professors and intellectuals to date, the U.S. letter concludes:
We join with our Israeli colleagues in calling for vigilance
as events unfold in Israel and the Occupied Territories. With an
average of more than $10 million dollars per day of American tax
dollars going to Israel, we believe Americans cannot remain
silent while crimes as abhorrent as ethnic cleansing are being
openly advocated.
We urge our government to communicate clearly to the government
of Israel that the expulsion of people according to race,
religion or nationality would constitute crimes against humanity
and will not be tolerated.
More information about the U.S. letter, including instructions
on how to sign it, can be found at
www.professorsofconscience.org.
This initiative by American academics represents a highly
significant mainstream articulation of Palestinian concerns about
where the international community's tacit acceptance of Israel's
now regular excessive use of force will ultimately lead.
The letter is expected to draw much criticism and praise in the
hotly-contested arena of Middle East education. Earlier this year,
a few days before the Israeli academics' letter was released,
EI
reported on the launch of the Campus Watch website, an
initiative by Daniel Pipes to encourage McCarthyite monitoring of
faculty opinion and lesson plans in U.S. higher education
institutions.
Such initiatives would seem to have failed. It appears from
today's letter and several other recent moves to encourage
universities to remove Israeli stocks from their investment
portfolios, that U.S. faculty are increasingly feeling the need to
express an opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and their
message is not one that Mr. Pipes or his ilk wish to hear.
Nigel Parry
Nigel Parry is one of the founders of the Electronic Intifada.
Full text of the U.S. letter and initial signatories
LETTER AGAINST EXPULSION OF THE PALESTINIANS
18 DECEMBER 2002
AMERICAN ACADEMICS JOIN ISRAELI COLLEAGUES IN WARNING AGAINST
ETHNIC CLEANSING
We, American academics and intellectuals, applaud our courageous
Israeli colleagues for their recent letter warning of the
possibility of ethnic cleansing in Israel and the Occupied
Territories. The 187 Israeli signatories express concern that the
"fog of war" [against Iraq] "could be exploited by the Israeli
government to commit further crimes against the Palestinian
people, up to full- fledged ethnic cleansing."
The Israeli professors point out that: "The Israeli ruling
coalition includes parties that promote 'transfer' of the
Palestinian population as a solution to what they call 'the
demographic problem'. Politicians are regularly quoted in the
media as suggesting forcible expulsion, most recently MKs [members
of the Israeli parliament] Michael Kleiner and Benny Elon, as
reported on Yediot Ahronot website on September 19, 2002. In a
recent interview in Israeli daily Ha'aretz, Chief of Staff Moshe
Ya'alon described the Palestinians as a 'cancerous manifestation'
and equated the military actions in the Occupied Territories with
'chemotherapy', suggesting that more radical 'treatment' may be
necessary. Prime Minister Sharon has backed this 'assessment of
reality'.
Escalating racist demagoguery concerning the Palestinian citizens
of Israel may indicate the scope of the crimes that are possibly
being contemplated." Benjamin Netanyahu, the newly appointed
Israeli foreign minister, previously advocated expelling
Palestinians while the world was distracted with events at
Tiananmen Square.
We join with our Israeli colleagues in calling for vigilance as
events unfold in Israel and the Occupied Territories. With an
average of more than $10 million dollars per day of American tax
dollars going to Israel, we believe Americans cannot remain silent
while crimes as abhorrent as ethnic cleansing are being openly
advocated.
We urge our government to communicate clearly to the government of
Israel that the expulsion of people according to race, religion or
nationality would constitute crimes against humanity and will not
be tolerated.
Professor Joel Beinin, Stanford
Professor George Bisharat, UC Hastings
Professor Beshara Doumani, UC Berkeley
Professor James G. Ferguson, University of California, Irvine
Professor James Fujii, University of California, Irvine
Professor Zachary Lockman, New York University
Professor Liisa Malkki, University of California, Irvine
Professor Timothy Mitchell, New York University
Professor Glenn Morris, University of Colorado
Professor Gabi Piterberg, UC Los Angeles
Professor James Pope, Rutgers University, School of Law
Professor Glenn E. Robinson, Naval Postgraduate School
Professor Ted Swedenburg, University of Arkansas
Professor Anthony Thompson, New York University
Professor Judith Tucker, Georgetown University
A full list of the 800 current signatories can be found at
www.professorsofconscience.org.